


Counting Stars (Kuroken)

by milomvrs



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bokuaka - Freeform, F/M, High School, KageHina - Freeform, Koutarou Bokuto/Keiji Akaashi - Freeform, KuroKen - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Tetsurou Kuroo/Kenma Kozume, Tobio Kageyama/Shouyou HInata
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29513874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milomvrs/pseuds/milomvrs
Summary: In which Kenma and Kuroo must find their way back to each other—perhaps with a little help from the stars.
Kudos: 2





	1. Introduction | Kenma's POV

POV: Kenma's

~

I blink the weariness from my eyes, the luminescent glow from my phone starting to tire me out. The light from the hallway disappears, indicating my mother is finally retiring to her room for the night.  
Suddenly there's a light persistent tapping at my window across from my bed and I can see a shadow outside leaning against the glass. The outline shows them crouching down and the figure's bedhead is traced on the glass.

Kuroo.

Turning off my phone, I walk over to the window and pull it open, the warm Tokyo suburb breeze settling around me like a blanket. Kuroo's smirking face is the first thing I see and he motions for me to climb out, offering a hand, and taking his hand, I do.

He helps me up to the roof and we sit next to each other, close to the ledge. We're both staring at the stars above and it's quiet besides our quiet breathing and the occasional car passing by on distant roads.

Then he finally decides to speak up, "Do you remember when we first met, Kenma?"

"Uh, yeah," I say, recalling the event from eight years ago.

Eight years ago . . .

"Kenma! come down! come downstairs, there's someone I want you to meet!" My mother's voice rushes up from the stairs and I pause the game on my Nintendo, setting it down on my beanbag and walking out of my room to go downstairs.

After making it downstairs, I walk into the hallway leading to the kitchen and notice that there are three more pairs of shoes placed next to the mat in front of the door. I make it into the kitchen and see two tall adults talking with my mom and a smaller figure clinging to the pant leg of the woman. My mother notices me lingering near the doorway and offers a warm smile and hand for me and I quietly dash over to her, holding on tight to her hand.

"As I was saying, this is Kenma. he's in the second grade," my mother says and soothes my hair down whilst pulling me to stand in front of her. I look up and see the two other adults are smiling down at me and the woman looks down behind her and a boy emerges between the two who must be their son.

He has dark messy hair and somewhat narrow eyes, his eyes a dark hazel color. Like his parents, the boy looks to be at least a head taller than me but only comes up to his parents' waists.  
"His name is Tetsuro and he recently started the third grade," his mother says and his father ruffles his hair, earning a giggle from the boy.

"Hello," I greet quietly, offering a small wave with my hand. I make eye contact with him and he beams, his face instantly lighting up.

"My name is Tetsuro, but you can call me Kuroo!" Kuroo greets and offers a hand. I shake it tentatively and smile at him.

"Kenma, why don't you go and show Tetsuro your new game upstairs? Mommy and the adults are gonna talk, but we'll call you both down for dinner, how's that sound?" She smiles warmly at me and squeezes my cheek lightly. I nod and grab Kuroo's hand, leading him up to my room.

We played for hours and I remember falling asleep and waking up with Kuroo on my bed. My mom had moved us there when she walked into my room and we were asleep on the bean bags.  
we'd been inseparable since.

Present-day . . .

"Why are you bringing it up now?" I turn to face Kuroo and see he's already looking at me, making my ears and cheeks warm a bit.

"Tomorrow I start high school and you'll still be in junior high," he starts, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Sometimes it just seems so unreal, watching you grow and all."  
this causes me to blush furiously and I turn my head to face to stars, hoping he wouldn't see the rush of color on my face in the pale moonlight.

"Yeah, you too," was all I could say, not knowing how to respond.

It's silent for a while, the two of us taking in the sight of the scattered stars in the sky tonight.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," Kuroo points out and I risk a glance and see that he's staring at the twinkling lights above with a smile on his lips.

"Yeah, yesterday was too cloudy." I see him glance at me and I smile a little. "It's like a whole other world up there. Sometimes I wish I could live there though, get lost in the space."

"I'd say a universe, but I don't need to look at the stars to know my universe," I feel his intense gaze has turned on me and I turn to face him with all the courage I have.

"And why would that be?" My voice seems like a whisper, everything around us has faded except for the speckled light above. His eyes are staring into mine, and I'm reciprocating.

"Because you're right here."

And when he kissed me, not only did I feel my heart burst, but it seemed even the stars swooned.


	2. One | Kenma's POV

"Kenma! Could you make the tosses a little higher for me?" Lev gives me a pleading look and makes a praying gesture with his hands.

Sighing quietly, I nod at the giant and get ready for a toss. Lev throws the ball up and moves up the court, his shoes squeaking on the hardwood. Everything moves in slow motion as I lock in on the ball's path.

Taking two steps, I jump up and pushing my arms up, I make contact with the ball and set it for the incoming spiker, making sure to add more height. I watch as my taller teammate launches himself into the air and swings at the ball, sending it flying over to the other side of the net. The ball slams down against the ground inside the court line and bounces a little ways further.

"Nice kill!" Yamamoto cheers and I see Kuroo chuckle next to him. I turn my attention back to Lev, not allowing myself to get distracted in the slightest.

Lev sends me a bright smile and I nod in approval. I wipe the little beads of sweat from my forehead on my arm and tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Walking over to the nearest bench, I grab my water bottle and take a swig.

"Hey, why don't we practice a rotation? That way we'll get more experience with the training camp coming up and all," Yaku suggests and looks up at our tall captain for approval.

Kuroo seems to think this over for a bit and nods, glancing at me for just a second. "Yeah, we'll go with first then. Yaku, join lev and kenma with the second-year players. Yamamoto and I will take the other firsts."

With the rotations announced, everybody goes to their respective places and I walk back over to the net in the setter's position and feel a tall figure looming over me from the other side of the net.

"Standing close to the net to try and show off your height won't intimidate me," I point out, not looking at the captain. He lets out a deep chuckle and I keep my eyes averted.

"It was worth a shot," Kuroo says, his presence seeming closer than before. "Used to work, you know."

I scoff and face him, meeting eye to eye. His height spiked off when he got into junior high and he continued to grow, eventually stopping at 6'2" now in his third and last year of high school. Me, I stopped at 5'6". "Don't let yourself fall into the 'one-trick pony' category, oh-so mighty captain."

There is no emotion in my eyes and I realize Kuroo's gone speechless, genuine shock masked over his features. I let my words sink and watch as he recollects himself, the familiar smirk lacing its way on his soft lips.

"Alright then, kitten. I'll play your game, just don't come purring to me when you lose," he says and the bedhead turns to look as Yamamoto serves the ball over.

The game starts as soon as the ball makes it over the net and I watch Lev's footing as he approaches to hit. Yaku receives the ball and I adjust as it moves to pass over my head. I throw a calculated glance and watch the blockers move to mark lev and realize he won't be able to make it through. Jumping up, I move to set and when I see the blockers focused on Lev, who's already loading for his approach, I shift just the slightest and give a light tap to the ball and send it over the net softly.

I watch in slow motion as Kuroo, getting ready to jump for a block, catches on the last minute and dives to receive my setter's dump before the ball hits the ground, a look of pure concentration on his face.

One moment too late is all it takes and the ball lands with a soft thud a few inches in front of Kuroo's outstretched hand. The court is silent for a beat, everyone surprised at my choice in attack until Kuroo's dark chuckle fills the gym.

A small smirk tugs at the corner of my lip as I watch Kuroo get up and dust himself off. The captain brushes off the dust and meets me with his eyes narrowed and a devilish smirk.

He is royally pissed.

"Now that, kitten, that was a dirty move, but if that's how you wanna play, then the game is set."

I tilt my head to look at the taller male and I offer an angelic smile. "Good luck." And with that, the games had begun.

The match is a whirlwind of scoring, a hit here, a block there, but eventually, my team takes both sets and we all gather at the benches on either side of the net to cool off.

I watch as Kuroo talks to his team, sweat and a smile present on his face. Watching him hits me with a haze of memories and I shake them from the head before turning and walking to the locker rooms to get changed.

A little later I'm talking with Yaku and I realize that I forgot my phone in the locker room. Excusing myself, I set my bag down near the entrance for me to retrieve later and I run in, making my way to the locker room. the lights are still on and i hear some shuffling in a nearby aisle.

I wander down the row of lockers and don't seem to see the familiar black rectangular shape anywhere.

"Kenma."

I freeze at the sound of the familiar deep voice. Turning, I face Kuroo who stands at the other end of the aisle and I see him holding my phone. I slowly make my way over to him and let my eyes remain blank. I stop just in front of him and look up, his smirking face meeting mine.

Oh, how I hate that smirk.

I hold my hand out, a clear request for the return of my phone.

His intense gaze doesn't wavier.

"You still have this picture," he points out and shows me the lock screen of my smartphone. It's a picture and him and I playing volleyball when we were younger. "Why?" He tilts his head, his smirk curling up in just the slightest.

I take an unconscious step back and look to the right, anywhere but him. "Why does it matter?" My voice is low and I clench my hands tightly, not letting my emotions get the best of me.

"I didn't think it did, kitten," he takes a step forward, looming over me like a hunter closing in on his prey. "But now that I think about it, I'm interested in finding out."

I take another step back, this time on purpose but he just follows with a step forward. "It's just a picture," I say. "It's not like it means anything."

One more step back and I find my back pressed against the wall. Seeing as I had nowhere to go, Kuroo closes in and places a toned arm on the wall next to my head, leaning down to meet my eyes. "You play too many games, kitten. Ignoring me and pretending I'm invisible when I'm in the room, then missing me when I'm not." His voice drops an octave. "You're messing with my head."

The oxygen in my lungs seems to go stale and the words are stuck on the tip of my tongue. His hazel eyes are smoldering and I can't look away. "Miss you?" I don't even recognize my voice when I whisper it. "You think I miss you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Kuroo silently asks for clarification.

I scoff, the anger rising in a lump in my throat. I swallow it down and continue. "You're unbelievable. All this time and you'd think you'd finally get the idea." He takes a step back and I follow up, the wallowed anger clawing its way to the surface. "I have been fine without you for quite some time, so don't think for a second, just because you're a figure on my lock screen, god! A lock screen, of all things! That there's some sort of emotional connection or longing associated with it."

I'm glaring hard at him and there's an unreadable emotion playing on his face. It's silent for a while until I hear a familiar ringtone playing from my phone.

It's Shouyou.

Kuroo looks at who's calling and I still can't read the emotion playing on his face. Using the moment to my advantage, I spring forward, grabbing my phone, and make a run for the exit.

Making it outside, I grab my phone and don't stop running. Despite the aching in my legs, I refuse to stop and when I make it to a familiar doorstep, I throw open the door and storm upstairs, not bothering to close it. I get to my room, slam the door, throw my bag down, and collapse onto my bed, phone in hand.

The ringing starts again and I see that it's Shouyou again, this time requesting a facetime call. Answering, I greet the glowing redhead with a small smile.

"Kenma! Hey!" Shouyou, my best friend, greets. His face comes into view and I see that he set the phone up against something and he's surrounded by papers that I assume are his homework.

"Hey, how are you?" I catch my breath and set up on the bed, turning on a lamp on my nightstand to get some light in my dim room. The dry burning in my throat persists but I hold off a little longer to reign in my emotions.

"I'm good, although I'm not getting very far with kageyama, stubborn jerk. He's rude as ever, but it's not like I can't deal with him. He did turn down a few girls that stayed to watch practice today, which I was surprised by. His explanation-hey, are you okay? Kenma?"

I don't even realize I'm crying until I look at myself in the facetime call. The tears are hot as they streak down my face, the result of the encounter earlier. "Um, no, actually, I'm not," I admit, sniffling a bit.

Shouyou waits for me to explain, his attention fully on me, and I explain. Letting it all pour out, I tell him about the practice and what happened in the locker room, but I don't stop there. I talk about Kuroo and his girlfriend, the last year of being in the same school again. I even get to the part where he kissed me on the rooftop.

By the time I'm finished, we've both settled down on our beds and I see Shouyou is crying as well, the tears making thin streak down his cheeks and his eyes are glistening.

I don't realize how tired I am until I yawn, my head threatening to shut down to rest.

"I'm so tired. Not just because of practice, but emotionally tired. Pretending to be okay has become a habit, but it's so tiring to keep daily, every day, every moment, making sure I look a certain way so nobody worries about me," I gush, the tears seeming to have stopped. "I don't know what to do anymore."

"Well," Shouyou manages to get out between sniffles. "You gotta push through. I know that's a crappy reply-"

"Yeah, it was shit," I interrupted with a smile, earning a laugh from him.

"But that's all you can do. That, or go and confront him, which I know you wouldn't, especially not after today," Shouyou points out. The redhead yawns and I realize how late it is. "Maybe we should ask Akaashi, he always has the answers."

I nod, my eyes fighting the heavyweight of fatigue. "Maybe tomorrow. You're still coming over right?" The tiredness shows in my voice and I see him blinking hard, attempting to stay awake.

"Yeah, training camp in two days," he answers, his voice trailing off a bit. "Don't worry, I . . . didn't . . . forget about . . . it." There's a pause followed by the sound of soft snoring.

"Goodnight . . . Shouyou," I manage, my voice seeming to have lost its energy. I close my eyes and am pulled under by exhaustion into the dark place that is sleep.


End file.
